Page 4 of The Lilac River

Lily Jones.

The name hit harder than any bourbon hangover. My mind spun. My chest tightened.

Ten years. And now she was back.

Back in Silver Peaks.

Back in my life.

I cursed under my breath and bent to pick up the ruined pancake, tossing it into the trash. Gunner laughed, making some smart-ass comment about me losing my touch, but I barely heard him.

Because for a split second, I wasn’t in the kitchen anymore. I was seventeen again, holding her hand in the lavender fields, swearing I’d never let her go.

But I had.

No. She’d let go first.

My hands braced against the counter as I dropped my head forward, squeezing my eyes shut for a second.

She was back.

I didn’t know what street she lived on now. Was she back living with her mom? Did she still like black coffee with too much sugar? Did her hair still curl at the ends when it rained?

I didn’t know if she hated me. Or worse, didn’t think about me at all. Did she ever think about why she left?

All I knew was that somewhere in this town, Lily Jones was breathing the same air as me, and my goddamn heart didn’t know how to handle it.

"You gonna finish that stack, or stand there looking like someone ran over your dog?" Gunner asked behind me, voicelight but laced with that brotherly knowing he never managed to hide.

I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

Because the second I found out she was back, something inside me had shifted. Not healed, hell no, but cracked open wider. Exposing all the raw, battered places I’d thought I’d buried years ago.

The kind of break that never scars. The kind that stays open.

I wiped my hands on a towel and forced myself to turn back toward the stove. Forced myself to smile at my daughter as she stuffed pancakes into her mouth. Forced myself to be the man I’d spent the last eight years becoming, since Bertie’s mom dropped her on my doorstep because she didn’t want her.

Because even if she was here, even if some miracle put her within reach again, I couldn’t afford to fall apart.

Not with Bertie watching.

Not with a ranch to run.

Not with all the broken promises piled at my feet.

Still...

Still, part of me hoped like hell that fate hadn't brought her back just to leave me shattered all over again.

Because deep down, in some stubborn corner of my heart I hadn’t managed to shut off, I still craved her.

And that scared the ever-loving hell out of me.

Chapter 2

Hiding My Heart – Brandi Carlile

Lily